Opening Illustration
(a story built on one by A. Stanley)
While in college, Dave came home with me for a Winter Break. Unknown to my parents, though, was what Dave brought in his extra large suitcase: a 40 pound python named ‘Squeeze’. I really never liked snakes, but he told me he had no where to keep in during the break and that he would take total care of it. I cringed, but OK’d it.
Then it happened, Dave had unlocked that large suitcase, walked out of the room to come up for dinner, and….by the time he had come back down….Squeeze was no where in sight! We all c a r e f u l l y searched the house right up til midnight, checked all the heating vents, the laundry basket, the bathtub, but could not find him. Well, my folks thought that he might just might have found a nice warm spot next to the furnace and with that they decided to go to bed because they were tired.
WAIT FOR THIS TO SET IT THEN CONTINUE
Transitional Statement:
I wonder how many people would be able to sleep well knowing that a snake was loose in their homes!
But the fact of the matter is, that many people would go right to sleep and do go right to sleep even though snakes are loose……….
……snakes of sexual impurity
…....snakes of murder
…....snakes of greed
My friends, today we are going to learn that one very influential man, who had been called by God to a very high position of leadership did not rest until he made sure the snakes in his life were captured and contained.
After reading his life in God’s word, one scripture that summarizes his entire life is:
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
1 Samuel 16
This Scripture refers to King David’s life, and today as God leads us during this time, we will learn the importance of having a heart for God.
We will find that it takes a person who is willing to do whatever in order to have a heart for God, in order to be passionate for Him.
ILLUS:
Derek McGinnis, a 29 year old war vet, lost his left leg to a suicide bomber in Iraq, but he became determined not to let that stop him from his passion of surfing. With that determination, he gathered other war amputees around him to teach them how to surf.
Transitional statement for Illustration:
He would not let anything get in the way of his passion.
And neither do you!
God’s word tells us that King David suffered looses, great looses, but he did not give up on on his passion for God.
To best show this, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 51, a Psalm of David written after a trusted friend confronted him with sin!
As we look at this psalm we will find a process through which this man travels from his state of sin back into the presence of God
ILLUS
Who are you accountable to, my friend! Who would you allow to come up to you in order to help you through a difficult time?
But too often we confuse love with permissiveness. It is not love to fail to dissuade another believer from sin any more than it is love to fail to take a drink away from an alcoholic or matches away from a baby. True fellowship out of love for one another demands accountability.
Found at sermonillustrations.com accountability
King David, through, the advice of Nathan was willing to be held accountable for his sin of adultery and murder. well know King found trust in a friend to lead him back to God, Notice first his..
DESPERATE CONDITION
Though he had commited adultery, and then had that woman’s husband murdered, notice how he is gripped by how the ugliness of his sin has destroyed his relationship with God!
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
Ps 51:4 NIV
Though sin cripples our relationship with others, first and foremost it destroys our fellowship with God. Until we hear again from God, it is best that we wait for Him to speak into our lives before we seek attempt to right the wrong we have made with another.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
Psalm 51:13 NIV
Again, David shows us one who was passionate to serve God…not just during the times when life was going well, but even during the times when he sinned.
The gravity of sin in your life is defined NOT by how shocking it would be for another person to know about, or how society would judge it, but the gravity of your sin can be best described by your attitude towards it.
Q: Do you know the worst sin there is?
A: The sin that you easily dismiss as no threat to your relationship with God!
Sins like these are the snakes in our house. And though, no sensible person could sleep at all with such a creature lurking about, the very person who is casual about sin sleeps seemingly well as those snakes run loose!
If time would permit, I would tell you about his sin by taking the census, and how in thhe midst of the judgment of God upon the nation for his sin, and how he cried out to God in the midst of the judgement
David said to God, "Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? O Lord my God, let your hand fall upon me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people
1 Chronicles 21:17
If time would permit, I would tell you about his heartache, his famiiy’s hardships that resulted because of his sin of adultery and murder! And how these times broke him into having a passion for God.
If time would permit, I would show you how so many of the psalms, written by David, expresses a man’s heart and attitude towards our Almighty Merciful God and Savior during life’s hardships.
But…….As David’s DESPERATENESS for God led him to a DEEPER TRUST, so can your times of struggles and sins, my friends.
DEEPER TRUST
Please note David’s words of hope in this Psalm.
Once corrected, he will teach transgressors (v. 13)
Once corrected, he will declare His praise ( v. 15)
ILLUS
Probably never heard of Hetty Green. She died in 1916 and left an estate with an estimated value of $100 Million Dollars(not pesos and not 1960 but 1916). ?Hetty regularly ate cold oatmeal because it cost too much to heat it. ?Her son had his leg amputated because she took so long to get him adequate care because she was looking for a free clinic.?Hetty died in the midst of an argument over milk, she argued that skim was best because it was the cheapest.?She was wealthy but she lived like a PAUPER. She never enjoyed nor benefited from the riches that were hers.??A second person I heard about lived on the West Coast of America living in poverty until one day he found out that he was the only living heir to a British Nobleman. What do you think this guy did when he found out? Went to the clothing store and bought the best suit he could find, bought a 1st class ticket to London and returned to England in style! ?HE BELIEVED WHAT HE HAD BEEN TOLD WAS TRUE AND HE BEGAN TO ACT UPON IT!!!
Posted by Guy McGraw at Sermon Central www.sermoncentral.com
This very day, and every waking moment of your life, God has for you an open invitation to reap from him a passionate heart for Jesus! But you need to act upon that truth.
David did and he found a more a deeper trust. So can you though.
CONCLUSION
Sad to say that there are people today that can seemingly sleep well, live well with snakes in their home.
It is sad today that people will justify the seemingly small transgressions in their life as a means to serving God.
PAUSE
David was a mighty man, and so can you be,
But that might was not from all his military victories.
That might was not from his reigning for 40 years.
11 He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.
1 Kings 2:11 (New International Version)
His might came from His passion for God NO MATTER WHAT.
I wonder what would happen in our relationships with our families, and neighbors, and co-workers, when we develop a heart for God NO MATTER WHAT?
I wonder if people who don’t come to church or who are not Christians or who don’t know God’s Word, would begin to see the power and the love of God if his people who are called by his name, like King David, would humble themselves to willing accept NO MATTER WHAT from the very hand of God
